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Let me add one other point. Diane and I drove fleet owner trucks for three years before buying our own. While the numbers are working out nicely, owning your truck is different in a couple respects. Before, when the truck broke down or needed maintenance, we would normally put it in the shop...

OK. I figured it out. Checking the technology news revealed it as an April Fool's joke. Google got me. x(

This can't be real, can it? I saw this link on Google's home page for the first time on April 1st (April Fool's Day). They're kidding, aren't they? http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

>No we are not just hanging out some of us are working for >contractors and want to know from some of you that are owner >ops if the 60 % that we are not getting will cover the truck >payment, manitance and other fees that go with owning your >own truck. The answer is yes...but. Think...

Thank you, Terry for your explaination. While trying to understand the details of the DVA system is a real head scratcher, and trying to predict exactly how it will work out for you in a particular case where you and other trucks are waiting for freight is even more difficult, it is good to know...

As you were posting your questions about the order in which run offers are made, I was writing one of my stories from the road that talked some about the same topic. Excerpt: It surprised us that the other trucks had not been offered the load. They had more dwell time (time waiting for freight...

Very nice. The outside of the truck comes together well. The inside reminds me of my Cub Scout days.

I just took a closer look at the photos. Is that a machine gun etched into the front bumper?

You are asking a great question. It's one that all expediters of all experience levesl should continually ask on an ongoing basis. An area to focus on is load strategy. Which loads do you accept? Which loads do you decline? Under what circumstances do you deadhead to chase freight? How much...

Unexplained objects, indeed. The other day I saw two freshly -dropped items side by side on the road; a fire extinguisher and a very large pink pillow. Explain that. ;)

Anytime you put a truck on the road that is out of the ordinary, opinions will be offered pro and con, from a variety of sources, with varying levels of intensity. The negative opinions will matter only to the extent that you allow them to. In the world of custom truck building, the only opinion...

Expediter wannabees reading this should take it to heart. Street crime is an issue in expediting. It comes in at least two forms. One is as described above. Notice that a whole bunch of Open Forum participants, Diane and me included, can talk about this truck stop with first-hand experience...

Our odometer shows an average of 12,000 miles a month; some of which is loaded, deadhead, and simple wandering around. As with Terry's averages, any specific numbers I'd share about our team results would not mean much either. FedEx pays by percentage of the load, not the mile. Under such a...

>Better than half the tires sold are never 100 percent round. >That is the reason you have them trued. Balancing does >absolutley nothing for that correction. >While not scientific, we ran golf balls in one tire, and not >in the other on a KW. Rotated when necessary and monitored >air...

Tire manufacturers advise against golf balls. The inner lining of the tire is designed to perfrom certain functions. Ongoing contact with golf balls or any other substance is not contemplated in the design. Golf balls degrade the lining. And, yes, I am sure there are thousands of drivers who...

Bummer today, sort of. With 108,000 miles on our truck, we replaced our first set of steer tires. While the treads had 8/32" remaining, cupping had begun. Knowing the tires had only more cupping to look forward to, and being serious about keeping our truck in tip-top condition, we replaced old...

When the class 7/class 8 discussion has come up in the Open Forum before, the class 8 owners seem far more pleased with their trucks than the class 7 owners. While I am sure some can be found, I do not recall any owner-operator writing or saying he or she would go back to a class 7 truck after...

It seems excessive to me. Diane and I drove six different fleet owner trucks in three years with 300,000 to 600,000 miles on them. They were class 8 trucks with Cat or Detroit engines in them. One gallon of oil added between oil changes at 12,000 to 15,000 mile intervals was the norm with those...

Glen continues to undergo a painful and all-too-slow recovery. A few days ago he became violently ill and had to return to the hospital for a day's stay, where they treated him for the same kind of symptoms chemotherapy patients have. He has not had chemotherepy but the after effects of his...

What Leo said. The risks of truck ownership vastly outweigh the benefits you would gain by jumping in four months sooner. Use those four months to earn income in other ways and to do ongoing research to further prepare yourself to enter and succeed in the business.